Since Dassai’s fiscal year ends in September, we closed our books on September 30th. Looking at the sales figures from the daily report from that day, the total sales for this fiscal year amounted to 19,549,459,407 yen (USD 131,994,040.02). In other words, sales were approximately 19.5 billion yen (USD 130 million) in sales. However, due to differences in fiscal periods, this figure does not include sales from our sake brewery in the United States. This means that Dassai sales in Japan alone amounted to 19.5 billion yen (USD 130 million).
If we exclude 800 million yen (USD 5.4 million) in sales from non-sake products such as shochu distilled from sake lees and rice bran, the pure sake sales come to 18.7 billion yen (USD 126.37 million). Out of this, 8.7 billion yen (USD 59 million) came from exports and other overseas sales, while 10 billion yen (USD 68 million) came from domestic sales.
I am not sure whether these 19.5 billion yen in sales is large or small, but when you look overseas rather than domestically, it's certainly not a figure to be proud of when compared to champagne and wine makers. When you consider that Japanese sake cannot survive unless it considers the world as its market, you realize that there is still a mountain of work to be done.
We are aware that it is important for Japan that Dassai be promoted worldwide as one of Japan's premium brands. We would appreciate your continued guidance and cooperation in our "Dassai Challenge."
Chairman of Dassai Hiroshi Sakurai